The South African Water Act (Act 54 of 1956) was promulgated in 1956. Section
21 of this Act required the permitting of all effluent dischargers, including sewage
works. The General and Special Standards were subsequently published in the
Government Gazette in 1984 in accordance with this Act, which set effluent
discharge quality limits for such discharges. This was the Uniform Effluent
Standard approach. However, this approach did not take into account the
assimilative capacity of the receiving water, or limitations thereof. This resulted
in a decrease in the water quality in the nations' water resources (DEAT 1999).
The White Paper on Water Policy in South Africa was published by the
Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in 1997. This paper identified this
concern and suggested a change in the way water quality was managed in the
country. The National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) was subsequently promulgated
in 1998, and provided the tool to effect these changes. This Act adopted the
Receiving Water Quality Objectives (RWQO) approach. This approach takes into
account the impacts on the receiving water as well as the impacts on other water
users. This mini-thesis compared SA legislation regulating the discharge of
wastewater, and more specifically sewage effluent, into the environment, by
comparing it to first world legislation performing the same function. The
effectiveness of the implementation of the SA legislation was also investigated.
This study concluded that the promulgation of the National Water Act of 1998
(Act 36 of 1998) brought SA legislation on par with first world trends. This is an
advanced piece of legislation, the effects of which are only now beginning to be
felt. Much of the changes required by this Act are still being initiated and may
take years to fully implement. Most dischargers still have valid permits issued in
terms of the Water Act of 1956 (Act 54 of 1956), and these permits must be
replaced by licenses issued in terms of the National Water Act of 1998 (Act 36 of
1998). An important conclusion from this study is that the legislation is not
prescriptive in terms of specifying discharge license conditions, but instead
allows the relevant authority, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry to
adjust the stringency of such licenses to suite the degree of impacts resulting
from such discharges. Discharge licenses are therefore very site-specific and
tailored to suite the type of discharge and impacts on the receiving water and
other water users. In this way the requirements of all water users, including the
aquatic ecosystem of the receiving water body, are taken into account, and
protected.
One suggested improvement to the SA legislation however, is to regulate
industrial dischargers to sewer using national legislation. This is currently
regulated by the by-laws of the relevant local authority, but is often insufficient to
protect the sewage works and ensure the proper functioning of these works,
which is largely dependant on the quality of raw sewage intake. Further research
is required to determine the impact of industrial dischargers to sewer, and
investigate how to regulate such discharges using national legislation.
This study additionally assessed the implementation of SA legislation and the
effectiveness of control over sewage dischargers. Enforcement of this legislation
is not necessarily uniform, since much of the responsibility to enforce discharge
permits and licenses lie with various officials within the Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry. One way to ensure uniformity would be to require regular
auditing by higher levels and management within this Department. Another
important aspect of enforcement of these permits and licenses is that all permit
and license holders, including Local Authorities, should be treated in the same
way.